Where Grocery Stores Are Rare, Service Is Rarefied
Some upscale neighborhoods have limited options for grocery shopping, but the few existing supermarkets offer homeowners chic choices and service
PHOTO: EMMA KELLY
Where’s the best place to hobnob with the rich and famous? In Palm Beach, Fla., try the produce aisle.
Palm Beach ZIP Code 33480 tops the list of luxury real-estate markets with the lowest density of grocery stores: only one grocer for 14,327 homes, according to RealtyTrac. Postal codes in New York’s Hamptons and Los Angeles also made the list, as well as one ZIP in St. Louis.
The dearth of grocery stores in some affluent areas is partly driven by high land prices, saysCody Vichinsky, co-founder of Bespoke Real Estate in New York’s Hamptons. “The commercial to residential mix here is so imbalanced,” he said, because of the high barrier of entry for grocers. Moreover, many local homeowners are part-time residents, so business is slow at certain times of the year. These homeowners also eat out frequently and shop at farm stands instead of trekking to a distant supermarket, he said.
For the analysis, RealtyTrac, a real-estate information provider, identified ZIP Codes where there are more than 100 residences and where average home values are at least $500,000.
Grocery-store density was determined using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s database of more than 250,000 grocers—both large and small.
High-end real-estate markets tend to be in outlying suburbs or share borders with wilderness areas or coastlines, said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. “They’re definitely not in densely populated urban areas,” Mr. Blomquist added. To that point, luxury ZIP Codes in Brooklyn, N.Y., had the highest density of grocers in the study.
“You’re paying for exclusivity in these high-net-worth neighborhoods, and you want privacy,” said Mike Pappas, president of the Keyes Company, a real-estate brokerage in South Florida.
In Palm Beach, there is really only one supermarket that locals use, a Publix, and it has valet parking, said Kevin M. Leonard of Palm Beach-area brokerage Valore Group. “It’s like a car show, going for groceries on a Sunday afternoon,” he said, noting that the lot is often filled with expensive foreign cars.
Supermarkets that can afford to open in tony areas know how to please their clientele, Mr. Leonard added. The Palm Beach Publix—not far from where an $84.5 million mansion is under construction—has an extensive gourmet product line. And the cheese and wine selection: “It’s magnificent,” he said.
